Alpaca Lace Scarf

Clearly I like the crumpled look, because even after blocking it still looks that way. White lace looks so frothy and fluffy, and the little zig-zagging edge makes it even better.

Pattern: Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern, Victorian Lace Today (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace in natural, less than 2 skeins
Needles: 3 mm

It only took a year to finish, but finally it got done. Maybe will be a Christmas present for somebody. Being such a slacker, it usually works better for me if I don't decide something is a present until it is done.

Modification: making the Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern with only one repeat made it a scarf instead of a shawl.

The chart had two extra stitches on the one side of the chart, which made the lace leaves wider on that one side (left side of the chart). Attempting to be helpful, I tried to write a comment about that on the pattern page in Ravelry, but at that time there was no function for reporting problems. So now it looks kind of wrong where it is, like I am saying something negative. I feel bad about that, and maybe I can get them to remove it. I was not intending to say anything negative, because I love this pattern! And this gorgeous book!

Pippi displaying her combover

She makes the couch look good.

Selbu glove

Dear Friends,

I sure have missed all of you.  The last year just flew by!  I have been working very hard and not been able to fit in much time for knitting, blogging or other fun stuff.  Reading bloglines again is exciting, but I almost forgot all my usernames and passwords for everything!  

There has been a very, very small amount of knitting going on.  Though there has been some buying of yarn...  ahem!  I fooled myself into thinking that buying the yarn makes a project halfway finished...  It almost gave me a sense of accomplishment.

One Selbu glove (unblocked, unpressed) from the booklet Selbustrikk which I got from Nordic Fiber Arts.   This is Damevante No. 16.  There are three different charts for the back of the hand in this pattern. 

The yarn is Rauma Gammelserie (this means Old Series, so it's an oldfashioned, tightly twisted yarn).  I am knitting with 2mm double-pointed needles (us 0), which were quite hard to find!  The only manufacturer of 2mm dpn's I found was Addi.

Well, I hope you are all doing well.  I look forward to seeing what you all have been up to!

xoxx

h

What we can learn from spiders

I have knitting posts coming, I promise!  In the meantime:

Blocking, who needs it?

Soft, white, and fluffy like a cloud.


This is how I like my lace to look.

The Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis pattern, from Victorian Lace Today, in a scarf version. I am working on the edging at the moment. This project is renewing my love for Misti Baby Alpaca Lace yarn! It's so wonderful!

And it does come in 22 gorgeous colors...

Maybe I will have to flatten the project a tiny, tiny, little bit at the finishing stage. But not too much!

Meanwhile, though I love the white alpaca, I am hankering after colors... Who knows what will come out of this?

Local yarn and fabric store closing

I am so bummed. For those who live in South-Eastern Mass, the Randolph location of Fabric Place is closing. Everything is on sale. They have yarn as well as fabrics, and in fact they were the biggest MA yarn shop south of Boston. I just discovered them last spring, and was really happy to find such a great big store reasonably close to my area. It was too good to last, of course.

Their selection includes Classic Elite, Berrocco, Brown Sheep, Malabrigo, Fleece Artist, Karabella, and lots of other goodies. And their fabrics are awesome. They also have their Pfaff sewing machines on sale... This always happens when I am on a budget.

This is the second time this has happened in a year here... I plan to take good care of the remaining smaller shops.

Their Warwick, RI, location is also closing.

Well, I just thought I would pass on the word about the sale, if anybody lives in the area, and is in need of yarn. :)

A Pine Tree Sock

Pattern: Pine Tree Socks by Katherine Misegades, free pattern here

Yarn: Dale Heilo, 3 skeins of 50g

Needles: 3 mm

The Katherine Misegades sock is made with a special heel, which is very cool. There are no short rows, and no picking up stitches. There are no special heel stitches and this allows the patterning to flow all the way down the back.


They are super comfortable. I love that they are nice and long. Also, the way the sock is angled gives it a shape that fits my foot very nicely. Now I am almost looking forward to the cold so that I can wear my Pine Tree Socks. As soon as I finish the other one, of course.
Thank you, Katherine!

Also, my user name on Ravelry is mohairkid. Or The Mo-hair Kid as we like to say it 'round these parts.

Lace Knitting

We liken lace knitting to making a souffle: To the uninitiated, it exudes an aura of mystery and difficulty; but when the work is done, you realize it is mostly air and no trick at all.

Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen, Vogue Knitting, Winter 92-93.

Mostly air

I love this quote. Elizabeth Zimmermann had the gift of expressing things succinctly!

In between working on the Pine Tree Sock, my little wall quilt, and my Brocade Leaves sweater, I cast on for another lace project. Resistance was futile.

The pattern is again from Victorian Lace Today, the Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern (p 52). Though I am only doing one repeat across, instead of two, so that I will have a scarf instead of a shawl. See gorgeous full size versions of it here and here.

For the yarn, I am again using Misti Baby Alpaca Lace, in natural. I love this yarn. Very nice and extremely generous with the yardage. So generous that I have tons left of the red from my last scarf.

The pattern is bothering me slightly, though. If you look at the picture, you can see that the stockinette section is larger on the left side than the right side. It has two extra stockinette stitches, so the pattern is not completely centered. It's a tiny error in the chart. I have already done six repeats, so I don't have the heart to frog it. It will be one of those imperfections that shows it was handmade. Handmade with love :)

On a Lace related topic, I have good news for North American lovers of Japanese knitting books. They are now available here, at the Needle Arts Book Shop. The lace sweater at the top of the page is spectacular. I can see this becoming a new obsession for me... Lace knitting, finally in Japanese!
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